KINDLE FIRE UPDATE v6.3.1 was announced by Amazon at the Amazon Kindle Forum by Kevin G., Community Manager, and involves additional parental controls. The software v6.3.1 update was announced today, May 3, as ready for download.
Download it at the software-update page (good instructions there) and you can also read there the information they include from the last, recent update (v6.3) to get a fuller picture on many changes that were made in late-March 2012.
Here's the extremely brief announcement Amazon has added on that software update page today. I've boldfaced the changes.
'We have a new, free software update available for Kindle Fire. This update brings additional parental controls to Kindle Fire, including the ability to password-protect purchases, disable access to specific content libraries, and block access to the Silk web browser. As with all software updates, these new features will be delivered automatically to your Kindle Fire.
By "specific content libraries" they mean categories such as books, docs, apps...
But the update page makes it possible for you to put it on your Kindle now if you want it right away, and the instructions on that page are easy to follow.
Kindle Forum Tips from users
Old Rocker at the Kindle Forum thread saw this when upon installing the udpate:
. Web Browser - Blocked/Unblocked
. Password Protect Purchases On/Off
. Password Protect Video Playback On/Off
. Block and Unblock Content Types Newstand/Books/Music/Video/Docs/Apps
. Password Protect WiFi On/Off
rickh57 says that you can restrict access to all books, etc., but not isolate it to a particular book.
Old or Adds an interesting precaution
"I'm thinking that anyone who shares their Fire may want to set up a parental control password, but just allow everything in order to avoid a child or other user to accidentally turn on parental controls and set up a password, locking the owner out. That happened to someone recently who posted about it on the forums."
Bufo Calvin found that "when you block the browser, you can still download from the Cloud..." He also found that 'the 'bookstream' (the live chat within the books) also still works."
If you forget the parental control password?
Turns out that you can set it to factory defaults after a few missed passwords -- so IF someone steals your Kindle you'll want to call Kindle Customer Service at 866-321-8851 to prevent anyone else from registering the Kindle to their account. [You can 'blacklist' the Kindle if it's ever stolen.]
*~*Pineapple*~* points out that resetting to Factory Defaults means losing:
. Any personal docs on the device
. any Internet bookmarks
. memorized wifi networks
and you'd need to register the device again, filling in the information.
EARLIER posts on Kindle Fire v6.3.x
Kindle Fire v6.3 features
READING VIEW feature
Kindle Touch 3G Kindle Touch WiFi Kindle Basic (UK: KBasic) Kindle Fire
Kindle Keybd 3G (UK: Kindle Keybd 3G) K3 Special Offers K3-3G Special Offers DX
For daily free ebooks, check the following links:
| Temporarily-free books - Non-classics USA: by: Publication Date Late-listed Bestselling High-ratings UK: PubDate Popular What is 3G? and "WiFi"? Battery Care Highly-rated under $1, | Most Popular Free K-Books U.S. & Int'l (NOT UK): Top 100 free UK-Only: Top 100 free USEFUL for your Kindle Keyboard (U.S. only, currently): 99c Notepad 1.1, 99c Calculator, 99c Calendar, |
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Let me know when Amazon decides to fix some basic bugs on the Kindle Fire ...
ReplyDeleteI tend to let a few people know. What specifically are you looking to have fixed? Collections is a lacking feature many of us want but not a bug.
DeleteIt seems that the keyboard has been updated, at least the one used in the password protection menus. The letters seem better spaced or something. Of course the keyboard I'm using now looks the same.
ReplyDeleteHi, K H -
DeleteThe keyboard for parental controls is more sparse than the usual one because, probably, the number of acceptable characters for a password is very small...
After updating I can't seem to play PRIME videos anymore. It gives me an error "ENGINEERING BUILD: Can not play past the first 50 MB of the file." Has anyone else had this problem?
ReplyDeleteThat's a serious error message and event! I'd call Kindle Customer Support to ask them about it. They may have you re-install the update, as I've not heard of it happening otherwise.
DeleteYou can also ask at Kindle Commuity forums. Let me know what happens with this, if you would. Thanks.
I just had this problem last night. Did some research on the Amazon forum and saw this:
DeletePaul Petterson says:
Just figured it out - password protect video playback - turning it on gives me the "ENGINEERING BUILD" message - turning it off lets the video play.
Wow, that's going back some, Mai Le. Thanks for the info. This was about the Kindle Fire, before HD.models later that year. Interesting. nugget!
DeleteI kinds like it better.
ReplyDeleteI think it's considerably better, KH, but some people have activated it accidentally, it seems.
DeleteYes, thanks to your post the first thing I did was set up my own password. But what I meant to do in the post above was say I kinda like the sparse keyboard better. The auto correct doesn't like kinda and I didn't hit reply. But again—thanks for the heads up regarding the password thing.
DeleteAh, the sparser keyboard. OK, I do like the alternate keys if you press longer, but I wish the comma were a normal key!!!
DeleteThat auto correct can drive me crazy. I remember I once typed a word like "Hiya!" on the forums with the KFire, and it changed my greeting to "Jihad!"
And, yes, amazing how many report the accidental password occurrence...
Just thought I'd share a Amazon CS story from today: My son was using our 1st gen Kindle and left it on the couch. My father crushed the screen with his elbow (kinda an ox he is). Needless to say, I'm devastated. We have a number of Kindles now, but you can't beat that wedge shape. It's surprisingly still quite useable (and is the one my wife prefers to use). CS offered a great deal on a K3 3G. I asked about refurbished K1s. The CS agent did a search for it amongst their sellers and put it in my cart so we could mull over what we wanted to do. What other company does that? Some might think we're crazy; but it was an easy decision to go ahead and get the K1.
DeleteHugh
Hugh, they really do have amazing customer support policies. I still have my Kindle 1, but if anything doesn't stay right with your Kindle 1 (it IS an aging model), I want to add that my personal favorite of the e-Ink keyboards is the K3.
DeleteThat must have been a horrible moment when the elbow did its thing :-) I do have a soft spot for that silver column :-)
I like the K3 too. But we already have one so we went with the refurbished model for the variety and the sentiment.
Delete